Manama: Foreigners working in neighbourhood stores such as grocery shops, restaurants, barbershops and laundries in Qatar have been exempted from the decision banning labour accommodation in residential areas.
Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning sources said that the decision to ban single workers from living in family residential areas applied only to labourers working with contracting and construction companies.
Professionals, executives and others doing white collar jobs do not come under the purview of this decision, "because it is not about regulating single workers in residential areas."
"A separate decision is expected in this regard," the sources said, quoted by Qatari daily The Peninsula on Tuesday.
The ministry has set a November 1 deadline for the relocation of all labour accommodation from residential areas. A special committee was set up at the ministry to chalk out details of the implementation plan.
The panel has completed its work and the municipalities have been asked to implement the decision in areas under their jurisdiction. The municipalities have been given powers to identify the locations, oversee the evacuation of the labourers and impose penalties on those violating the rule.
The municipalities, however, are not responsible for providing alternative locations for accommodating labourers relocated from residential areas and the companies sponsoring the workers have to find the alternative accommodation and make sure that it is away from residential areas, the daily said.
The authorities believe that the decision would not cause problems for the labourers who are provided transportation to their work site and back to their accommodation by their employers. The employers have been asked not to accommodate their workers in areas that do not have the necessary infrastructure and services.
The ministry has prepared an initial list of areas where labour accommodation will be banned.
The municipalities of Al Rayyan, Al Wakra, Al Shamal, Al Zaayen and Um Salal Ali have designated areas where labour accommodations will not be allowed.
